Surface-contact railway



(No Model.)

B. M. HEWLBT T. SURFACE CONTACT RAILWAY.

No. 589,894. Patented Sept. 14, 1897.

Iluirnzn rates EDlVARD M. I-IEIVLETT, OF SCI-IENEOTADY, NEl/V YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, QF'NEW YORK.

SURFACE-CONTACT RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,894, dated September 14:, 1897.

Applicationfiled May 27, 1897. Serial No. 638,377. (No model.) I

car is turned around at the end of the line.

In turning the car in such systems the contact-shoes are reversed in their relation to the I road-contacts. In many cases two sets of contacts are provided, one furnishing motor-current, the other operating the switches, being respectively on the positive and negative sides of the system. In some of the systems with which I am familiar low-potential batteries are also used, being arranged in shunt to the pick-up magnets and being charged by the line-current working through suitable resistances. With this form of construction it 2 5 is necessary that the relation of the battery and contact-shoes be changed when the contact-shoes are changed in their relation to the road-contacts, so that the line-currentwill not flow through the battery in the wrong direc- 0 tion.

One form of device commonly employed in turning the car is the well-known Y, and I have illustrated that in my application as a convenient conventional arrangement.

To effect the purposes of my invention, I

provide an additional or auxiliary cont-actshoe besides those commonly provided. In circuit with this shoe I arrange a magnet-coil operating a circuit breaker or switch (of any suitable form) in the batterycircuit. This is placed convenient to the motorman. In addition to it I provide a reversing-switch by which the relation of the contact-shoes to the battery and motors may be changed. The

first switch, opening the battery-circuit, is antomatically actuated whenever the auxiliary shoe, which forms for this purpose one terminal of the battery -circ uit, is grounded. The other terminal of the battery is also grounded. In the dead space of the Y, which has no working contacts, is a grounded con- Fig. 1.

erate in the reverse direction and bythis time willhave passed oif the dead space in the Y. The battery may then be operated to pick up the switches in the usual way well known in such systems and not necessary to here describe.

The accompanying drawings show diagrams of arrangements embodying myinvention, Figure 1 being a plan view of a suitable Y, Fig. 2 a diagram of the circuits of a car equipped according to my invention, and Fig.

3 a diagram of a modified form of the circuits.

In Fig. l, A -A are the track-rails, B B are the motorcontacts, and O O are the usual switch-contacts. The particular form of the Y having the extended contacts insuring proper registration with the contact-shoes is not of my invention, and I simply employ it as a convenient illustration. I

In Fig. 2, A A are, as before, the trackrails; 13, a motor-contact; O, a switclrcontact. C is an auxiliary or grounded contact for the auxiliary shoe before referred to. The part of the track represented is the dead space 8 5 of the Y, across which the car is supposed to drift or pass by its own momentum, and for this reason the switch-contact C andthe motor-contact B appear on the same side of the track, though normally they are upon oppo- 90 site sides, and register, respectively, with the positive and negative sliding contacts. This will be understood from an examination of D Dare the track-Wheels. E is the battery. F F are the main or'ordinary con- 5 tact-shoes. F is the auxiliary contact-shoe.

O is the grounding contact. M M are the motors. R is the motor-resistance. R S is the re versing-switch for reversing the contact-shoes F F with the motors and battery. The spe- I00 cial switch for opening the battery-circuit is indicated at II and is actuated by the magnetcoil I, indicated in circuit with the shoe F At I is a blow-out magnet for extinguishing any are which might "form from opening the battery-circuit.

In Fig. 3 some of the same parts are shown as in Fig. 2, but in Fig. 2 the magnet-coil I is cut out of the battery-circuit by the opening of the switch H. In Fig. 3, however, an examination of the connections will show that this magnet-coil is always maintained in circuit even when the switch H is open.

The operation of the parts just described has been briefly indicated in the statement of invention. More particularly, however, it is as follows: Assume that the car is passing to the right in Fig. 2 and that the shoe F is on the positive side of the circuit and has been taking current from the motor-contact 13. With the switch R S in its illustrated position this shoe would be grounded as soon as it strikes the contact 0, and if the controller be on, the motors being run by momentum, would feed current directly into the battery, and as soon as the shoe F engaged with the motor-contact B toward the right of the figure (not illustrated) current would pass from that contact also directly through the battery, which wo uld thus be in circuit with but small resistance directly between the two shoes. IVhen, however, the auxiliary shoe F strikes the grounded contact 0, the coil I is energized and pulls open the switch or circuit-breaker H, the blow-out coil I extinguishing any are that may be formed. It is designed to arrange this switch in the motormans cab, so that his attention will be attracted by the switch opening. The switch R S is thrown to its dotted-line position, thus reversing the relation of the motors and battery to the shoes F F. The battery-circuit being open ed it is immaterial whether this is done on the to open the battery-circuit upon grounding the auxiliary shoe, and a switch for reversing the leads to the contact-shoes while the battery-circuit opens.

2. In a surface-contact railway provided with means for turning the car, an automatic switch for opening the lead from the battery to one of the contact-shoes, and a contact in the roadway for opening the switch.

3. The combination of an automatic switch actuated by a contact in the roadway to open the battery-circuit, with a switch acting to reverse the leads between the motors and battery and the contact-shoes.

4. In a surface-contact railway provided with a Y for turning the car, the Y having a dead space in which there are no working contacts, a battery one end of whichis grounded, a switch in the battery-circuit, a coil acting to open the switch, an auxiliary shoe connected to the coil, and a contact in the dead space for grounding the auxiliary shoe.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of May, 1897.

EDIVARD M. HEWLETT.

Witnesses:

B. B. HULL, M. H. EMERSON. 

